When I first became vegan, I wasn’t sure what I would substitute my then favorite sprinkle on pastas and pizzas. I tried several brands of convenient vegan parmesan cheese but none really excited me to want to have a bulk in my fridge. It wasn’t until I tried the shredded parmesan cheese from Follow Your Heart. And although I continue to use it from time to time, I wanted to try to make my own version. It seemed quite fun!

Making your own parmesan cheese is fun, more cost effective and SO easy you can make it in just about 5 minutes! Seriously, it takes so little time to prepare you’ll be wondering why you did not try sooner (at least that was my reaction).All it takes is placing all the ingredients on the food processor, pulse it, and it’s done!

It’s also nutritious providing some plant-based protein, omega-3’s, magnesium and Vitamin B12. This nutritional profile is something no other dairy product can provide. And because you have control over what ingredients to add, you can adjust the sodium content by adding just a little salt for flavor. It doesn’t take much. Nutritional yeast is what gives this the cheesy flavor we ultimate seek in a parmesan cheese and also provides Vitamin B12 which is of importance in vegan diets. You can learn more about nutritional yeast, its nutritional value and how you can use it in cooking in my article, here.

Vegan Parmesan Cheese

Total Time: About 5 minutes

Ingredients

¼ cup unsalted raw walnuts

½ cup unsalted raw cashews

¼ cup nutritional yeast

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

½ teaspoon salt

Directions

In a food processor, add all the ingredients and pulse until it’s a flaky texture (try not to pulse too long to prevent from making it a creamy consistency).

Pour it into a sealed container or jar and enjoy it with your favorite dishes.

Notes:

*You may leave refrigerated for about one week.

*This recipe was adapted from various other vegan food bloggers.

*For a nut-free version, you can use hemp seeds or other vegan bloggers have mentioned trying sunflower seeds – though I haven’t tried this.

*Be creative and try using a combination of other nuts such as Brazilian nuts and/or almonds.